KCC's move to ease rules draw fire
By Park Jin-hai
"Descendants of the Sun," a megahit TV series, has come under the scrutiny of the TV watchdog for excessive product placement (PPL) advertizing.
The K-drama's last four episodes were flooded with product advertisements ranging from a red ginseng tonic to luxury sedans.
After the final episode was over, viewers vented their disappointment on various websites, saying that it was "a one hour advertizing splurge."
The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) has been reviewing the show to decide whether to impose disciplinary measures. The regulatory body will finish its review in early May.
PPL, or embedded marketing used as a means to raise money to make the drama, has caused a stir as it has become more blatant.
Making matters worse, the KCC plans to ease the rules, allowing TV dramas to run PPLs for liquor companies and secondary lenders in certain time segments.
However, analysts and many viewers say the regulatory body needs to tighten scrutiny to keep the quality of K-dramas from being damaged by PPL.
"It is a putting-the-cart-before-the-horse situation. Nowadays it seems that PPL is the main driver of a drama," culture critic Ha Jae-keun said. "Not only does this prevent viewers from focusing on the drama, but I am concerned that it might lead to lower quality."
In the popular SBS drama "Yong-pal," a close-up of a property deal application from Zigbang was featured on the full screen and its lead actor showed people how to use it.
The KBS drama "All is Well" had one of its sponsors' CEOs appear on the show and speak promotional lines, leaving viewers to wonder whether it was a drama or a TV home shopping channel.
Ha said that the problem was the lack of a structure to make revenue for drama production companies.
"As the cash-strapped production companies are troubled from the ever-rising payments to star actors and increasingly small fees paid by broadcasters, they tend to depend more and more on income from PPL," he said.
Making a drama costs 500 million to 600 million won per episode on average. Broadcasting companies only cover about half of this, while production companies are left to find additional revenue to cover the rest. And one of the easiest methods is through PPL.
"Broadcasters receive all the advertisement fees for commercials placed before and after the show. We are on a tight budget even to break even," said a production company official, who declined to be named.
"The star-studded drama Descendants of the Sun made 3 billion from selling PPL in the program, but in other cases, it is usually in the range of 1 billion won. If PPL is not allowed, many production companies will go bankrupt."
PPL has been allowed in TV shows since 2010, on the condition that they make up less than 5 percent of the total broadcast time and are limited to 30 seconds for each product.
The local market more than doubled in size to 83.8 billion won in 2014, from 40.5 billion won in 2013. In tandem the number of warnings issued by the KCC has more than quadrupled to 55 in 2015, compared with just 13 in 2010.
"Viewers are the ones who suffer the fallout from being exposed to inundating PPLs," Ha said. "PPL is a hidden advertisement form aired without any notification to or asking permission from the viewers. Excessive PPL advertisement is tantamount to deceiving the viewers."
Some say that commercial breaks, which are permitted only on cable channels, can be one way to provide income and control excessive PPL at the same time.
"On the part of viewers, PPL is a big problem since the line dividing the program and the advertisement is unclear. Making it clear as well as opening dramas up for commercial breaks can be one way to address the situation," said Chung Mi-jeong, vice director of the Institute for Public Media.
By Park Jin-hai
.jpg/dims/resize/740/optimize) |
| Song Joong-ki is seen sipping a red ginseng product in "Descendants of the Sun." / Courtesy of KBS |
The K-drama's last four episodes were flooded with product advertisements ranging from a red ginseng tonic to luxury sedans.
After the final episode was over, viewers vented their disappointment on various websites, saying that it was "a one hour advertizing splurge."
The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) has been reviewing the show to decide whether to impose disciplinary measures. The regulatory body will finish its review in early May.
PPL, or embedded marketing used as a means to raise money to make the drama, has caused a stir as it has become more blatant.
Making matters worse, the KCC plans to ease the rules, allowing TV dramas to run PPLs for liquor companies and secondary lenders in certain time segments.
However, analysts and many viewers say the regulatory body needs to tighten scrutiny to keep the quality of K-dramas from being damaged by PPL.
"It is a putting-the-cart-before-the-horse situation. Nowadays it seems that PPL is the main driver of a drama," culture critic Ha Jae-keun said. "Not only does this prevent viewers from focusing on the drama, but I am concerned that it might lead to lower quality."
In the popular SBS drama "Yong-pal," a close-up of a property deal application from Zigbang was featured on the full screen and its lead actor showed people how to use it.
The KBS drama "All is Well" had one of its sponsors' CEOs appear on the show and speak promotional lines, leaving viewers to wonder whether it was a drama or a TV home shopping channel.
Ha said that the problem was the lack of a structure to make revenue for drama production companies.
"As the cash-strapped production companies are troubled from the ever-rising payments to star actors and increasingly small fees paid by broadcasters, they tend to depend more and more on income from PPL," he said.
Making a drama costs 500 million to 600 million won per episode on average. Broadcasting companies only cover about half of this, while production companies are left to find additional revenue to cover the rest. And one of the easiest methods is through PPL.
"Broadcasters receive all the advertisement fees for commercials placed before and after the show. We are on a tight budget even to break even," said a production company official, who declined to be named.
"The star-studded drama Descendants of the Sun made 3 billion from selling PPL in the program, but in other cases, it is usually in the range of 1 billion won. If PPL is not allowed, many production companies will go bankrupt."
PPL has been allowed in TV shows since 2010, on the condition that they make up less than 5 percent of the total broadcast time and are limited to 30 seconds for each product.
The local market more than doubled in size to 83.8 billion won in 2014, from 40.5 billion won in 2013. In tandem the number of warnings issued by the KCC has more than quadrupled to 55 in 2015, compared with just 13 in 2010.
"Viewers are the ones who suffer the fallout from being exposed to inundating PPLs," Ha said. "PPL is a hidden advertisement form aired without any notification to or asking permission from the viewers. Excessive PPL advertisement is tantamount to deceiving the viewers."
Some say that commercial breaks, which are permitted only on cable channels, can be one way to provide income and control excessive PPL at the same time.
"On the part of viewers, PPL is a big problem since the line dividing the program and the advertisement is unclear. Making it clear as well as opening dramas up for commercial breaks can be one way to address the situation," said Chung Mi-jeong, vice director of the Institute for Public Media.
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